Less Noise, More Nurture: Chinese New Year 2026, with Olivia Plotnick

In this episode of Potluck, hosts Scott and Drago discuss Chinese New Year 2026 with Olivia Plotnick, founder of Wai Social, a Shanghai-based agency helping global brands navigate China's unique social media ecosystem. Olivia's insights regularly feature in the Financial Times and Jing Daily, and she's become a go-to voice on what it actually takes to connect with Chinese consumers.

Olivia unpacks the defining shift of this year's CNY campaigns: a move from collective celebration toward self-nurturing. She explains how brands like ON Running and Nike are validating holiday fatigue and positioning restraint as a premium value, while local brands like Semir are harnessing co-creation to let consumers shape the narrative.

We also explore why younger consumers are skipping the trip home, how gifting is becoming more about "me" than "we," and what foreign brands can learn from domestic players who compete on speed, quality, and cultural fluency.

Our listeners will learn about:

• The shift from family obligation to self-nurturing — and what's driving it
• Why ON Running's quiet, cinematic approach stood out in a noisy CNY landscape
• How Nike reframed sport as a psychological tool, not a performance metric
• Apple's CNY film and the power of learning to say no
• Semir's UGC-driven "What Kind of Horse" campaign and co-creation as creative engine
• ToSummer's nostalgic, handcraft-led approach to slowing down
• The new gifting mindset: buying for yourself, not others
• Top advice for foreign brands navigating China's CNY moment — and when not to force localisation

Campaign links:

• Apple CNY 2026: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fnfFdy9LlAHg3V-lkZ-JAA
• ON Running CNY 2026: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Fsukf-CKiikqlCI873aO-w
• Semir "What Kind of Horse is Semir?": https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4jKN49jLfjnVbel_E4Y8cg
• ToSummer "Bamboo Horse, Youthful Journey": https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/E920qeTMl0SvzzzmB3avYw

Follow Olivia and Wai Social:

• Substack: https://substack.com/@oliviaplotnick

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